So this weekend I had my third rudder line failure, with the line slipping off the screw post at the rudder horn. Damn near put me on a dry reef; with myself and the girls pedaling and paddling we got to safety.

This happened twice before, and the line shredded as it slipped through the screw at the rudder horn. I returned it to the dealer who replaced the line and re-rigged it, but I think it may be incorrect.

The way it is rigged, the rudder control lines simply exits the hull and go under the screw which is tightened down. There are holes on the rudder horn and it seems to me that the lines should secure to those with a wrap, with the screw just maintaining the tension on the bitter end, but I don't know.

I DO know that until I can resolve this, I just can't trust the boat. We were in moderate winds (10-15 kts) with the sail reefed to about 70%, and just cruising (not man-handling the rudder or sheeting in hard).

Looking for thoughts on how you folks who venture offshore rig the rudder. Yes, I can steer with a paddle (I steer 6-man) but I needed to get upwind in a hurry and there is no way that was happening with this last failure. Still need to figure out a good, simple backup control system for when line failures occur.

In my early days of using my 2012 TI, I experienced a failure of my rudder line >inside< the hull, and a combination of wind conditions and my inexperience with the TI resulted in my being swept 7 miles out to sea before being rescued.

In a dose of overkill, I have added extending arms to the rudder, with the port external line being rigged with 2 to 1 leverage, leading to a cleat beside my seat. On the starboard side, the extension is connected to a line which contains some bungy cord, and leads to another cleat to the right of my seat. In the (highly unlikely) repeat of failure of the internal lines (which I believe was caused by incorrect leading of the line against a scupper tube), or slippage at the rudder, I can tension the starboard side, and then steer by applying pressure on the port line. The photo shows Mk i of the extenders, which have now been replaced with stronger pieces.

As regards the rudder lines themselves, I suggest you add a washer to that screw, and wrap the rudder line a full turn around the screw before tighteninng. I doubt you will get any slippage with this arrangement.

Thanks Tony. I was thinking of using some line and s-hooks to do something similar. I like the single line/tension bungy idea. Is the bungy strong enough to counter the rudder forces in actual use? Could it be done without the rudder horn extensions?

I will add the ss washer and a turn on the line...I think I wall also run the line for a turn through the hole in the horn (rather than just running up through it to the screw) so that some of the tension is held by the turn of line through the hole, rather than nearly all of it held by the screw post.

The bungee is definitely strong enough because I can add tension by pulling more line through the cleat. I do not think it would work without this ability to change tension to suit the weather condiitions. It has worked fine in my tests in all the conditions I met.

I do not believe you would have any success with such external lines unless you increase the leverage by adding extensions. In fact, the short lever arm is probably the reason why Hobie uses 1000 pound dyeema for the steering lines, as the forces are so high.

I should stress however, that my breakage of lines was a one-off as far as I am aware, and I believe was due to incorrect assembly of my new boat. So my external linkages are almost certainly overkill, once the standard lines are wrapped fully round that screw, under the washer. Similarly, I suspect that your plan to loop the line threough the hole is probably unnecessary once you have properly secured the line under the screw.